Jim Weston, the president of the I-45 Coalition, a citizens group that is monitoring the plans, and have so since they were first proposed over a decade ago, posted an update over on the group’s Facebook page earlier today that underlines once again that no part of the project will be enacted anytime soon.

As reported in this space last October, these plans have been in the works since 1998, but still look no closer to completion. As said last October, the Coalition is committed to three core beliefs regarding the project, mainly that any work should contain no expansion beyond the existing right-of-way, that alternative means of transportation must be explored and that there be no negative impact on the neighborhoods’ quality of life. Here is what Weston had to say today:

Our “quarterly” meeting scheduled for July 23rd (4th Monday) is now scheduled for October 22nd at 7 pm at the Lindale Park Clubhouse, 218 Joyce (off of Fulton in Lindale Park).
If something progresses with TxDOT or the project, we will call a meeting prior to that .. I hate having meetings just for the sake of having meetings!

As you may recall, TxDOT is “required” to release a report summarizing public comments and responses within two months following each public meeting. The last public meeting was mid-November 2011. I asked TxDOT in May (six months after the mid-November meeting) about the status of the report & they said that it is not released yet. Why? …because the report had to be reviewed by the Austin office & FHWA prior to being released. They projected that it would be “another month or two” before the report would be finished. In May, they were projecting another public meeting in September but that TxDOT will not have that meeting until the public meeting report from the 1st scoping meeting is released.

Now TxDOT is saying the next public meeting will be in the Fall.

You can get updates about the project from TxDOT’s website – www.IH45northandmore.com . We will see!
thanks for staying involved.
jim weston